MADS - Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women

MADS - Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women
Air/Release Date	November 9, 2021
Running Time	133 minutes
Movie Director	Peter Bogdanovich
Year	1968
Cast	Mamie Van Doren Mary Marr Paige Lee Gennadi Vernov
Preceded by	MADS - A Night of Shorts 5
Followed by	MADS - "Manos" The Hands of Fate

A live streaming show in which the Mads (Trace Beaulieu and Frank Conniff) riff the 1968 science-fiction movie Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women.

The Movie

Main article: Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (film)

Astronauts land on Venus and discover a primitive, all-female society.

The Show

Callbacks

• "Watch out for snakes!" (Eegah)
• "Rock climbing..." (Lost Continent)

Running Jokes

• Numerous variations on the joke format "In Russia, (thing) (verb)s YOU!". This joke construction is usually attributed to comedian Yakov Smirnoff.

Quotes & References

• "It's The Lawrence Welk Show!"

The Lawrence Welk Show was a long-running musical performance TV series featuring band leader Lawrence Welk.

• "International television? You mean like Squid Game?"

Squid Game is a South Korean TV drama that was distributed in the United States by Netflix. It had made a significant cultural impact in the U.S. around the time of this livestream.

• "It was a roooock... Well, just a rock, actually..."

Frank is quoting part of the song "Rock Lobster" recorded by the band The B-52s.

• (As Mamie Van Doren's credit appears) "We remember her from the Ted Fio Rito days."

Ted Fio Rito was a bandleader. Mamie Van Doren sang with his band in the late 1940s before her film career started.

• "Vergee? V'Ger."

V'Ger was the name of the deep space probe that threatened the United Federation of Planets in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

• "Benjamin, Lake & Palmer."

A twist on the name of the musical group Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

• "You didn't read about it because the whole Lewinsky thing happened in '98."

In 1998, much of the American news media and popular culture was dominated by stories of U.S. President Bill Clinton's alleged sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

• "Sky rockets in flight. Afternoon de-ly-ee-ite."

A line from the song "Afternoon Delight" popularized by the Starland Vocal Band.

• "That big dish and they still can't get TCM?"

TCM (Turner Classic Movies) is a cable channel that shows old films. In some markets, it is only available as part of a premium cable television package. Frank Conniff often tweets about the movies they show.

• "Astronaut Hans Walters." "Manos Walters."

The German name "Hans" sound like the English words "hands". The Spanish word for "hands" is "manos", as was used in the title of a notorious film.

• "-calling Marsha." "Marcia, Marcia."

In a 1971 episode of the TV sitcom The Brady Bunch, the middle daughter Jan is frustrated by being overshadowed by her older sister Marcia. In a notable scene, she complains that all she ever hears is "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!". The line was repeated in the 1995 Brady Bunch feature film (and was included in the trailer), and has since entered the popular consciousness as epitomizing Jan's petulant nature and as a general expression of enviousness at another person's popularity/success.

• "The electric grandfather."

A twist on The Electric Grandmother, a 1982 made-for-TV movie adaptation of the 1962 Twilight Zone episode "I Sing the Body Electric" written by Ray Bradbury, in which a lifelike android in the form of an elderly woman is purchased by a widowed father to care for his children.

• "Then they saw it - Venus!" "No, that's Pahrump. You still have an hour and a half to drive."

Pahrump, Nevada is an unincorporated town approximately 62 miles southwest of Las Vegas.

• "Are you there?" "-God? It's me, Marsha."

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret is a 1970 young adult novel by Judy Blume.

• "They were able to repurpose sets from the Desilu backlot."

Desilu was a production company founded by Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. In addition to producing their own series I Love Lucy, Desilu was also responsible for other notable TV programs including Star Trek and Mannix.

• "And then fix the moisture vaporators."

In the science fiction film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, the protagonist Luke Skywalker lives on a desert planet where his family farms for moisture using "vaporators". He comes into possession of two robots ("droids") that are meant to repair and maintain the vaporators, but they draw him into a larger plot.

• "Robot got back!" "I like big 'bots and I cannot lie! ... Sorry, Al."

In the 1992 hip-hop song "Baby Got Back", vocalist Sir Mix-A-Lot expresses his fondness for women with large buttocks. The first line is "I like big butts and I cannot lie." Trace saying "Sorry, Al." after modifying the lyrics further may be a reference to the well-known song parodist "Weird Al" Yankovic.

• "And the rockets' red glare/The plot stopping right there..."

A pastiche of lyrics to the American national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner".

• "Bezos? Musk? or Estes?"

In the months before this livestream, several billionaires (including Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk) had experimented with privately-funded civilian-operated trips to outer space. Estes is a toy company that produces model rockets.

• "He's thinking about Joe Besser for some reason..."

Joe Besser was a comic actor who played the obnoxious man-child Stinky on the TV comedy The Abbott & Costello Show. He was also briefly a member of the Three Stooges comedy team. Actor Gennadi Vernov (Andre) slightly resembles Joe Besser's cousin's grandson Matt Besser, a writer and comic actor.

• "I like the Blade Runner where he doesn't talk."

The 1982 science-fiction film Blade Runner is known for the behind-the-scenes conflicts between director Ridley Scott and the studio. The film was altered before its release without Scott's consent, and a narration was added. Alternate versions of the film were later released that do not include the narration, and fans have debated which version is best.

• "Boy, it sure feels strange to have weight." "Insert Chris Christie joke here."

Frank Conniff was fired from his position as a panelist on the left-leaning John Fugelsang radio show after he continued to make jokes about former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's weight after being instructed not to by the show's producers.

• "Oh, good! It's on Hulu!"

Hulu is an online streaming service that shows a variety of television shows, movies, and sporting events.

• "Milton Berle, no!"

Show business rumor claims that comedian Milton Berle was remarkably well-endowed in terms of his masculine anatomy.

• "On this planet they're called 'landworms'."

This livestream took place shortly after the theatrical release of the 2021 feature film adaptation of the science fiction novel Dune, which includes giant carnivorous creatures called sandworms.

• "Uh, who ordered the blooming onion?"

A blooming onion is an appetizer available at Outback Steakhouse restaurants. It consists of an onion that has been "blossomed" (cut into spears) then battered and deep fried.

• "We're this close to being an Irwin Allen production! Let's get moving!"

Irwin Allen was a producer and director of television and films. He specialized in science-fiction productions including Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel, and Land of the Giants.

• "Marsha! "John!" "Marsha!" "John!"

The 1951 comedy record "John and Marsha" recorded by Stan Freberg consists of two characters (a man and a woman, both voiced by Freberg) saying each other's names (and nothing else) back and forth to each with different inflection indicating a range of emotions.

• "You might find the Statue of Liberty."

The 1968 science fiction film Planet of the Apes ends with the astronaut George Taylor discovering the ruins of the Statue of Liberty, revealing that he was on a far-future Earth and not a distant planet as he had assumed.

• "Not-So-Supercar..."

Supercar is a children's adventure TV show created by Gerry Anderson in 1961.

• "And then Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello showed up."

Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello starred in a popular series of beach movies in the 1960s.

• "A planet with no MyPillow sounds like heaven."

Mike Lindell, founder of the MyPillow company, is a vocal supporter of former U.S. President Donald Trump. His political leanings are significantly different than those of Frank Conniff.

• "She's wearing pants 'cause she's too sexy for her shorts."

In the 1991 song "I'm Too Sexy" by the group Right Said Fred, singer Richard Fairbrass mentions several things for which he is too sexy, including his shirt.

• "There's an Arthur Treacher's Fish and Chips on the ocean floor!"

Arthur Treacher was a British actor. After he had some success in American films, he allowed his name to used for a chain of fish and chips restaurants in the United States. They gained popularity in the 1970s, but as of 2021 there is only one still active location in the U.S.

• "She's blonde enough to be on Fox News!"

The conservative-leaning Fox News cable channel has been criticized for having on-air talent that is disproportionately Caucasian and for valuing female broadcasters for their physical appearance (and blonde hair) rather than their journalistic skill or insight.

• "It's the Bangles!"

The Bangles is an all-female rock band known for their hit songs "Manic Monday" and "Walk Like an Egyptian".

• "This is like the ending of The Warriors if it was sexy."

The 1979 action film The Warriors is about members of a New York City street gang trying to make their way home through territory controlled by other gangs. It ends with the titular Warriors walking on a Coney Island beach as the sun rises.

• "You'd think a cool car like that would get some sponsorship. I don't see any stickers or anything..."

Stock racing cars are often adorned with stickers, decals, or painted logos that sponsors pay to have applied.

• "You give us 22 minutes, we'll give you the world."

This was the slogan for the news broadcasts on WINS radio in New York City.

• "Hello, my baby! Hello, my darling! Hello, my ragtime gal!"

This is the opening line to the Tin Pan Alley song "Hello! Ma Baby!", written in 1899. It was later popularized through its use in the 1955 Looney Tunes animated short One Froggy Evening and in the 1987 film Spaceballs. The more-common version uses "honey" instead of "darling".

Behind-the-scenes

• The livestream of Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women was the eleventh performance by The Mads of 2021.
• Some of the promotional material identifies the film as Voyage to the Planet of the Prehistoric Women. The official title only contains one "the". This was commented on during the livestream.
• It was originally announced that the movie for this event would be Zontar, the Thing from Venus (a made-for-TV remake of It Conquered the World that starred John Agar). This plan was changed.
• The livestream was produced by Chris Gersbeck.
• Approximately 18 minutes of the film were cut from the running time for this event.
• The Mads were joined after the movie by comedian Blaine Capatch. In addition to his other work, Capatch co-starred in a number of promos for Comedy Central in the early-to-mid-1990s with his longtime friend and frequent collaborator Patton Oswalt.
• At the conclusion of the livestream event, it was announced that the next event would take place on December 14, 2021 and feature a livestream riff of the movie "Manos" The Hands of Fate.